In Sunshine Cleaning, Emily Blunt plays Nora Lorkowski, one half of the titular crime scene cleanup crew. Norah's razor-sharp edge and somewhat haunted past make for one intriguing character, and Emily pulls her off flawlessly. She chatted with the Oprah.com Screening Room about her take on the role.

(Spoiler alert! If you haven't seen the movie yet, read at your own risk.)

Q: Norah's such a complex, fascinating character. What initially attracted you to her?

A: I'd never played anyone like her before—that was a big pull. It's an offbeat, down-and-out American part really, and I was drawn to how curious she was. I was very touched by Norah. I understand that inability to move forward if you haven't discovered what happened behind you, and no one's talking about the death of her mother. She's just directionless and stuck, and there was something really heartbreaking about that. The characters seemed very real to me because people don't walk around crying about death. They walk around wisecracking and saying stupid things and deflecting emotions with humor. That's very much what Norah does, so I thought it was a very accurate portrayal of someone who is actually in a lot of pain.